October 17, 2013

Carlisle knows Pacers were severely short-handed

INDIANAPOLIS -- NBA coaches are creatures of habits. And one of their habits is they love to win games.

However, no one would blame Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle if he placed as asterisk besides Wednesday's 92-85 triumph over the Indiana Pacers. That's because the Pacers played without starters Roy Hibbert (rest), David West (rest) and Paul George (bronchitis).

And then the Pacers lost starting forward Danny Granger eight minutes into the game for good with a strained calf.

“In fairness, they’ve got about $80 million worth of players sitting out, so I understand that that’s nottheir best team,'' Carlisle said after his team squared its preseason record to 2-2. "But at this time of the year you’re evaluating your system, you’re evaluating how hard guys are playing, and your depth.

"We had some good things happened. We’ll take it and we’ve got to move on to our next practice.''

The Mavs will take Thursday off, practice Friday, and then play the Charlotte Bobcats on Saturday in Greensboro, N.C.